Your advice please: won a comp but I wasn't notified

cluckyhen

I know that if I need to contact someone from our company FB page I can't - unless they have already PM'd through to us. Sorry to hear that you missed out on your prize though

mjm3346

taxiphil wrote: »

Also I think that in the interests of good practice and openness, a winner announcement should always be posted on the company's page with the winner's name tagged in it.

They are supposed to say how winners details can be obtained but there is no requirement to post the details on-line and in some cases a "winner" is only announced when eligibility has been confirmed by meeting the T&C's including responding within any stated timescale.

serenity2012

Jumping in at the end here but wanted to say that firstly the company can email you from any account they like, including their great aunt fannys, so have no idea why you think they can't. It makes zero difference in my experience as i have emails in 'other' 'filtered' from people i've had contact with before. it's up to you to check all folders.

There have been thousands of comps for years on facebook and most do not tag the winner so nothing new there. Nor do they have to tag you. You are very lucky they messaged you as lots don't and most find out they've won through comp winner groups with members tagging them.

They are also correct in that they do not have to give you the name of the winner etc.

I'm really sorry because it must be frustrating but at the end of the day you did not respond within the two days as per their terms and so forfeit. it is as simple as that and they don't owe you any further explanation. Treat it as a lesson learned.

Carriecakes

I am sorry you didn't get your prize, but also have to agree that you can have ANY message filtered, not just from those you haven't corresponded with, as I have had messages from family go into the filtered section! Wierd, also I have missed prizes and found them only by using the search bar on facebook, and one of them was a prize I missed two years ago lol, I messaged them and luckily they let me have it, so Its bad luck the company didn't let you. I hope you win something lovely n big again soon xxx

Didoow

Sorry to hear about your situation. As I understand it, according to the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) - the body which lays down the codes for prize promotions (amongst other things):

Promoters must not claim that consumers must respond by a specified date or within a specified time if they need not (as would be the case for tickets for events, for example) (8.22 of CAP codes)

Promoters must either publish or make available on request the name and county of major prizewinners and, if applicable, their winning entries except in the limited circumstances where promoters are subject to a legal requirement never to publish such information. Promoters must obtain consent to such publicity from all competition entrants at the time of entry. Prizewinners must not be compromised by the publication of excessive personal information (8.28.5 of Cap codes)

I'm sure there is also a part that says they must make reasonable efforts to contact winner (e.g. more than once, more than one method) but I can't find that at the moment

Therefore, you can make a complaint to the ASA, but be forewarned that they can't force the company to give you the prize - only a judge can do that (you'd have to go through the small claims process). Only you can decide if it's worth it to you (and how far you take it) but you haven't got anything to lose

But, yes, unless you have messaged a company first, they couldn't message you from that page - although now there is an option for them to respond to your comment but I'm not sure they all have that.

mjm3346

Didoow wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your situation. As I understand it, according to the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) - the body which lays down the codes for prize promotions (amongst other things):

Promoters must not claim that consumers must respond by a specified date or within a specified time if they need not (as would be the case for tickets for events, for example) (8.22 of CAP codes)

If they haven't specified a response time in the T&C's they should not turn around and say you must reply within a short period of time unless it is obvious you need to from the prize on offer.
As long as the T&C's set a time frame it can be whatever they want, from needing to answer one phone call, having an hour to claim on a radio station, through to 24/48 hours which is quite common, CTWs at 5 days etc.


From a previous judgment where the complaint was upheld

The ASA recognised that some prizes, such as theatre tickets, were time specific and might therefore require a short deadline by which winners should claim the prize. We noted that the prize in this case was not time specific. We also noted that, in this case, neither the ad nor the terms and conditions specified that winners must claim their prize by a specific date

Didoow

mjm3346 wrote: »

If they haven't specified a response time in the T&C's they should not turn around and say you must reply within a short period of time unless it is obvious you need to from the prize on offer.
As long as the T&C's set a time frame it can be whatever they want, from needing to answer one phone call, having an hour to claim on a radio station, through to 24/48 hours which is quite common, CTWs at 5 days etc.


From a previous judgment where the complaint was upheld

Thanks for that, I will look into it further as I don't know whether they are allowed to impose time restrictions on replying beforehand (it doesn't say that in the CAP codes) or just not allowed to impose one afterwards but having googled your quote it also says "Unreasonable deadlines in relation to promotions and, in particular, in relation to claiming prizes will not be considered acceptable by the ASA." Not knowing what the prize is in this case, I don't know whether they are unreasonable or not but as I said before, he has nothing to lose by pursuing

Didoow

mjm3346 wrote: »

If they haven't specified a response time in the T&C's they should not turn around and say you must reply within a short period of time unless it is obvious you need to from the prize on offer.
As long as the T&C's set a time frame it can be whatever they want, from needing to answer one phone call, having an hour to claim on a radio station, through to 24/48 hours which is quite common, CTWs at 5 days etc.


From a previous judgment where the complaint was upheld

Thanks for that, I will look into it further as I don't know whether they are allowed to impose time restrictions on replying beforehand (it doesn't say that in the CAP codes) or just not allowed to impose one afterwards but having googled your quote it also says "Unreasonable deadlines in relation to promotions and, in particular, in relation to claiming prizes will not be considered acceptable by the ASA." Not knowing what the prize is in this case, I don't know whether they are unreasonable or not but as I said before, he has nothing to lose by pursuing

mjm3346

Didoow wrote: »

Thanks for that, I will look into it further as I don't know whether they are allowed to impose time restrictions on replying beforehand (it doesn't say that in the CAP codes) or just not allowed to impose one afterwards but having googled your quote it also says "Unreasonable deadlines in relation to promotions and, in particular, in relation to claiming prizes will not be considered acceptable by the ASA." Not knowing what the prize is in this case, I don't know whether they are unreasonable or not but as I said before, he has nothing to lose by pursuing

Providing it's within the law most things are acceptable as long as they are clear in the promotional material and/or T&C's so that the information is available when you decide whether or not to proceed to enter.
Prizes can be "collect only", reasonable delivery charges can be made, promoters can state who can go on a "family" holiday etc as long as the information is available when entering.

toniq

Might be worth a complaint to their ceo or head office, it can't hurt.